The Fine Line
by Adventure-Seeking-Juliet
Summary: Severus Snape hated many things, but one person he could never dream of hating was Lily Evans. Then why could he not do anything more than hate Hermione Granger, a girl so like his Lily? It was all a matter of that fine line between love and hate.Oneshot


**The Fine Line**

Written by: Adventure-Seeking-Juliet

When: Listening to music, contemplating the many deeds of Severus Snape.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, as should be obvious by my lack of J.K.R worthy talent. :)

A/N Severus Snape hated many things, but one person he could never dream of hating was Lily Evans. Then why could he not permit himself to do anything more than hate Hermione Granger, a girl so very like his Lily? It was all a matter of that fine line between love and hate. Not a hermione/snape fic.

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Severus Snape hated many things.

Well, to be honest, ever since the night of October 31, 1981, he had hated everything. Even himself.

No, _especially _himself.

Ever since that night, he'd found that he could scarcely look at anything and everything _she_ had represented, but yet he longed for it.

He rarely ventured out doors, because flowers grew there.

Lilies grew there, they stretched toward the sun, sparkling with a rare kind of beauty..

But why would he want to look at _them_? They were pathetic excuses for beauty next to the real Lily, _his _Lily. And she could no longer bloom, so why should they?

It wasn't fair.

The only beauty...the only light in so much dark...and it had been extinguished, like a brilliant flame doused in water...

And it could never burn again.

So, Severus Snape didn't burn either, he was like ice.

He had a job to do, for her, for _his_ Lily, and he was going to perform that job with little or no emotional attachment.

And he liked to think he had succeeded. It hadn't been that difficult really, Harry Potter had been just like his father...except for his eyes. They were Lily's eyes, not that it mattered, he was still just a clone of his arrogant father, or at least, that's what Snape told himself.

Dumbledore had told him that Harry was more like Lily than he knew...but Severus Snape did not listen, why should he?

Why should it even matter if Harry was more like Lily? Either way he had lived, and Lily had not.

As long as he protected Harry, he protected Lily's memory. He protected Harry _for her_.

But listening to Harry's over-achieving muggle-born friend, Hermione Granger, was not part of the job description.

Snape was never sure why he was so cruel to her. She was the smartest witch in her year, she was talented, she was brave, and seemed to have a very caring..but assertive personality.

Much like Lily.

Lily had had all those things, so why was it Hermione lived while Lily _rotted _in a grave?

_Perhaps_, that was why he hated Hermione Granger.

Hermione had a thirst for knowledge, she always knew the answer...and so did Lily.

The only difference was that Hermione could answer those question that were asked, and Lily couldn't.

When Snape had confided in Dumbledore about his plight, about his hatred for the Granger girl, despite the fact she was so much like Lily, the old wizard had spoke in a riddle, as usual.

_" There is a fine line between love and hate, Severus."_

Snape had snapped at him for even speaking, and stormed out of the office, completely ignoring the wise words Dumbledore had spoken.

Severus Snape had regretted that. It added on to the long list of things he regretted, of things he wished he'd done.

He only ever came to fully understand Dumbledore's words the night of his own death.

He had loved, and would forever love Lily, for all of the things she was to him, and yet he hated Hermione for those same attributes.

Because he had crossed that line, that fine line, between love and hate long ago, on the night of October 31, 1981.

But by the time he realized this it did not matter, he was crossing the line back into love again, he was going home, to _her_, to _his _Lily.

_Finally._

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A/N Okay, not too good, but it's a one-shot after all. Please review and tell me what you think. :)


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